Legislature Send Budget to Nixon

(AP) – The Missouri Legislature has passed a $26 billion spending plan for next fiscal year.
The budget approved Thursday will cut spending for social services by about $46 million while increasing basic aid for K-12 schools by about $84 million compared to this year.
That increase still falls about $400 million short of what’s need to provide public schools with full funding.
More money will go to public colleges and universities. Lawmakers have proposed a 1.3 percent increase of $12 million in performance-based spending for those institutions.
State employees will not receive a pay raise. Efforts to block the governor from extending bond payments to pay for a new St. Louis football stadium also failed to make it into the budget.
The bill now needs approval from Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon.